Japan to totally ban US beef if risk parts found: health minister
JAPAN - Japan would impose an all-out import ban on U.S. beef again if cow parts associated with high risks of mad cow disease infection are found in U.S. beef shipments, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Jiro Kawasaki said Thursday. Kawasaki showed...

Japan spots banned beef products in shipment
JAPAN - Japanese customs officials have spotted banned beef products as part of turkey and ham shipment from the United States, the Agriculture Ministry said today. A box containing U.S. roast beef was spotted Monday as part of a shipment of more than...

Japan confirms 26th case of mad cow disease
TOKYO - Japan has confirmed its 26th case of mad cow disease, this time in a 68-month-old Holstein dairy cow on the northern island of Hokkaido. Source: Reuters

Official Finding: Japanese Steer is BSE-Free
JAPAN - Tests conducted on samples taken from a 20-month-old steer in Japan found that it was not infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Japan has reported more than 20 cases of BSE since the first case of the brain-destroying disease...

Japanese shun U.S. beef, eat Australian
TOKYO - Kenji Miyoda, savoring a bowl of rice topped with beef from Australia, raw egg and spicy sauce, believes Australian beef is far safer than American beef. "It tastes OK, it's cheap, and it fills me up," the 27-year-old banker said...

U.S. answers Japan's questions on beef shipment report
JAPAN - The United States has sent to Japan an e-mail answering Japan's questions about an earlier U.S. government report on a U.S. beef shipment in January that contained banned mad cow disease risk material, agriculture ministry officials said Sunday....

BSE confirmed in cow raised for food in Japan
JAPAN - Japanese officials have confirmed the country's first case of mad cow disease in cattle specifically raised to provide meat. A 14-year-old female cow among cattle bred for beef in the southern prefecture (state) of Nagasaki was confirmed to...

US slaughterhouses processed cattle unable to walk
JAPAN - Government officials hinted Thursday at a further delay in resuming U.S. beef imports following a disturbing report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that 20 sickly cattle were processed for human consumption. The animals in question...

Japan Ag Official: U.S. Must Explain Cattle With BSE Symptoms
JAPAN - A senior Japanese agricultural official said Thursday that the U.S. needs to explain reports of "downer" cattle - animals displaying symptoms thought to indicate mad-cow disease - being used for meat in the U.S in order to...

Dozens of new BSE cases suspected in Japan
JAPAN - Media reports out of Tokyo warn that Japan may now be dealing with more than forty new cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. According to Japanese wire reports, a farm in Hokkaido is suspected of having 45 cows that are positive...

BSE cow was fed banned bone meal
JAPAN - A cow that died last month as Japan`s 22nd confirmed case of mad cow disease had been fed meat-and-bone meal, a Japanese official has said. This is the first known use of meat-and-bone meal in Japan since it was banned in 2001 due to...

Japan sorry for not fully inspecting US beef plants
JAPAN - Japan should have more thoroughly inspected US cattle facilities before easing a ban on American beef last month, Japan’s agriculture minister said today. Shoichi Nakagawa apologised in parliament for the lack of inspections. Japanese...

Japan pushes U.S. for explanation on beef
JAPAN - Japan said on Monday it would not resume U.S. beef imports without an explanation of how banned spinal material, believed to carry a high risk of causing a human form of mad cow disease, came to be found in a shipment of U.S. meat last...

Japan finds BSE risk parts in US beef imports
JAPAN - Japan is considering stopping all imports of U.S. beef - just a month after lifting a ban on the meat - after finding risk materials that could cause mad cow disease in a shipment from New York on Friday. A total of 390 kg (860 lb) of...

Japan reinstates ban on U.S. beef
JAPAN - Japan's prime minister says his country has halted the import of U.S. beef after an animal spine was found in a beef shipment at Tokyo International Airport. "I just heard the news from the agricultural minister just now over the...

Japan ends two-year ban on US beef
JAPAN - US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns voiced satisfaction after Japan on Monday gave the final go-ahead to resume imports of some US beef after a two-year ban. "I'm very pleased to announce that the Japanese market is now open to...

U.S. beef imports to resume Monday
JAPAN - The government Monday will lift the two-year ban on U.S. beef imports despite consumers' doubts that U.S. measures can eliminate the risk of meat tainted by mad cow disease. Officials said once the decision is finalized Monday, importers...

75.2% of consumers unwilling to eat US beef, survey shows
JAPAN - With the Japanese government expected to remove its ban on beef imports from the United States early next week, 75.2% of surveyed consumers are unwilling to eat U.S. beef, according to a telephone survey released by Kyodo News on Tuesday....

Japan Panel Ends Public Opinion Gathering On BSE
JAPAN - Japan's government-appointed Food Safety Commission Tuesday completed the process of gathering public feedback on the issue of whether to resume beef imports from the U.S. and Canada, Kyodo News reported. The Commission is due to deliver...

Hearings Are Key to Resuming Imports of US Beef, Japan Says
JAPAN - Japan's agriculture minister Shoichi Nakagawa, said public hearings on U.S. beef safety are key to resuming imports. ``Public hearings, now under way, are the important final step to gain public trust in U.S. beef,'' Nakagawa said. Japan's...